Visitors surprised to see Canadian students hold part-time jobs, coming from a country where universities are publicly funded
LAURA CARLSON
NEWS EDITOR
Capturing the essence of the ‘Canadian’ experience in just two short weeks can’t be an easy feat. But 10 students and four faculty members from Veracruz, Mexico were given the opportunity to try and do just that while participating in Laurier’s first ever Summer Study Tour.
Photo by Sydney Helland
CULTURE SWAP - While visiting Laurier, a group of Mexican students perform a spirited Mexican folk song.
From May 27 until June 9, a group of individuals from the University of Veracruzana (U of V) took part in a pilot exchange program made possible by a partnership between Laurier International and WLU’s new North American studies program.
“It was that good balance between educational aspects, cultural aspects, and fun,” Roxy Riess, program coordinator and president of Laurier International’s LIFE program, said of the tour.
During their time at WLU, the exchange students participated in a wide variety of activities including day trips to Niagara Falls and Toronto, athletic games such as inner tube water polo, a picture-taking scavenger hunt, and club hopping around Waterloo.
“It was a combination of learning in the classroom, learning by meeting Canadian people, learning by seeing cultural events, by being involved in the university life, by going on trips – every moment was learning but in different ways,” said Riess.
Kevin Spooner, a Canadian studies professor at Laurier, had the opportunity to teach the students four classroom sessions where they covered topics such as Canadian history and politics, immigration, and multiculturalism and the role of Canada in the world.
“I think they were here learning about Canada, but the whole time they’re learning about Canada they’re also learning about Mexico and making parallels,” said Spooner.
For instance, while giving presentations on the “Top Canadians” (who ranged from Don Cherry to Alexander Graham Bell), the class engaged in discussions about who would be on the list of the “Top Mexicans” and how such a list would compare to the Canadian compilation.
Sally Heath, a University of Waterloo PhD student, also had the opportunity to teach the students a class which she focused on Canadian popular culture. Heath was both surprised and pleased with the level of participation she received.
“I think the Mexican students are able to look at Canadian identity more critically than Canadian students are because I think lots of our own students take things like Canadian identity for granted or they never stop to think about it.”
The majority of the participants in the program admitted that before arriving in Waterloo they had very few ideas about Canadian identity and culture, and most had very limited experience speaking English.
Though some cultural differences did become apparent, Riess learned from her interactions with the group that there seemed to be more commonalities between herself and the visitors than divergences.
“The only differences between Mexican and Canadian students is basically language and some slight cultural things, but those are more points of interests rather than points of differences,” she said.
But Violeta Contrevas Galicia, a second-year administration student at U of V, did find some variation in the student lifestyle. Because universities in Mexico are publicly funded, students do not pay to attend university, but instead they must achieve high marks to be admitted into and stay in their programs.
“I’m very surprised because some students work [in Canada] and in Mexico you only focus on school.”
Excited with the notion that she could visit a country which few Mexicans have a chance to see, second-year U of V tourism student, Cielito Lindo, felt that the Summer Study program offered her an experience that was just to good to pass up.
“When I heard about the opportunity to go here it was like, ‘Wow, Canada, I have to go there, it’s so different than other countries,’” said Lindo. “All of the Mexicans go to the United States so why not go somewhere a little different?”
Danthe Damian Valderrama Menes, a languages student at U of V, also came to Canada for the experience of living abroad even if it was for a short period.
“I wanted to meet a new culture, new people, a new perspective of life and I need to learn English, that was the most important,” said Menes.
With a successful pilot program under its belt, Laurier International hopes to send a group of Canadian students to U of V next summer, and is also toying with the idea of offering similar programs as an intersession credit course.
Staff supervisor from U of V, Maria Teresa Barrera is very pleased with the incentive of the program, and hopes more students get the chance to participate in them.
“They get the whole [Canadian] experience, being abroad. If these programs didn’t exist, many of these students would never get the opportunity.”
Thrilled with the time he spent in Canada, Menes didn’t hesitate about what he would do if another opportunity arose for him to pay another visit to his neighbours to the far north. “I love Canada. I would like to come back anytime.”
